PARENT of all, omnipotent In heav'n, and earth below, Thro' all creation's bounds unspent, Whose streams of goodness flow. Teach me to know from whence I rose, And unto what design'd; No private aims let me propose, Since link'd with human kind. But chief to hear my country's voice, May all my thoughts incline, 'T is reason's law, 't is virtue's choice, 'T is nature's call and thine. Me from fair freedom's sacred cause Let nothing e'er divide; Grandeur, nor gold, nor vain applause, Nor friendship false misguide. Let me not faction's partial hate Pursue to this land's woe; Nor grasp the thunder of the state To wound a private foe. If, for the right, to wish the wrong My country shall combine, Single to serve th' erron'ous throng, Spite of themselves, be mine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COCK AND THE FOX, OR THE TALE OF THE NUN'S PRIEST by GEOFFREY CHAUCER THE MEETING by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER EYE-SHAPED, MOUTH-SHAPED by MARGARET AHO A SUMMER IN TUSCANY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 23 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |